


Undertale one-shots/mini stories.

by Soratonin



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: ... Most of this is without much plot now that I think about it., AM I EVEN TAGGING THINGS CORRECTLY!?, All ships are valid., And later suffering because of said torture, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blame a friend for all of this.(But don't really blame them they're great), But I dunno know yet., Don't know what I'm doing(tm), F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff without much plot., Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mature just in case because I torture someone later, No but seriously am I doing this right? I just got here today..., OCs galore sometimes, Oh god please help me(tm), Oops., Possibly slight horror elements?, Someone miiiiiight die.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:40:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22053433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soratonin/pseuds/Soratonin
Summary: Literally just a jumbled mess of one shots and little short stories I write that I don't want to place into separate stories, since I don't know how long any of them will be or if any of them even get continued. Most of them are ship-y, but not all of them will be.All take place in a connected universe I might give more info on later.All Undertale.Because I sunk into the trash can and found that it's actually very cozy.I literally only hope I brighten someone's day.(If you notice typos or want to point out an inconsistency somewhere, feel free. So long as you're polite about it I literally won't care what you say...)
Relationships: AfterDeath - Relationship, Blue/Red, CherryBerry, OC/OC, Reaper/Geno, Sans/Sans (Undertale)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	1. Moments in Our Lives. (CherryBerry short(s) Part I)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Years Eve to everyone reading!  
> Wrote this a bit ago and figured it was about time I got an AO3 account to share it with the world no matter the response I get.  
> Which might honestly be terrible because my writing sucks... But to hell with that! I'm gonna do it anyway!

Getting home late was not Red's intention in the slightest. Unfortunately for him, however, one monster or another decided to pick a fight with him. In the chaos of blows and dodges, Red forgot the reason why it'd started. Not that he cared now. He just hoped Blue was asleep so he didn't see the thin trail of blood -well it wasn't exactly blood, but it was the most common description given by other monsters and really only skeletons, or those close to them, knew that it was more like raw magic and liquefied bone marrow- leaking out from behind his gold tooth, despite repeatedly wiping it away with his jacket sleeve.

He'd hoped in vain. Blue was awake when he walked in, sitting on their couch with his arms crossed. Red braced himself, letting his eye-sockets go completely black, for getting yelled at, scolded, possibly hit, as his brother used to do. But in doing that he ended up totally unprepared for the other to rush over out of _worry_ for him. It must've shown, too, because Blue looked even more concerned.

Neither said a word as Blue guided Red into the kitchen and sat him down in a chair, grabbing a rag and a bowl of warm water. Along with his own chair. "Red what happened? Are you hurt anywhere else?" Blue asked as he slowly, and carefully, wiped the blood from around Red's gold tooth and his jaw where blood had smeared due to wiping it over and over on the same spot of jacket fabric.

Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was the sheer amount of distress and concern in Blue's tone, maybe it was the nice feeling that came with having someone worry about him in general, Red wasn't sure what it was that made him start talking about everything that happened during his fight with the other monster. Which he didn't bother remembering the species of, apparently. Fur, claws, and that's about all he remembered.

Blue said nothing after Red finished speaking, worry for his partner too great. Especially since he seemed to be dodging the question of if he was injured anywhere aside from the blood around his mouth. Changing the subject by explaining slightly more in detail, a half shrug and silence, flat out _refusal_ to answer at all. Blue gave a sigh after the tenth dodge of the question, setting the now bloodied rag aside and taking Red's hands in his own.

"Red, my sweet Red-Rose, just tell me. Or show me, please. Don't suffer through the pain when you have no need to. You have me, and _I. Care. About. You_. I _want_ to help you." Blue told him, his voice gentle and caring but still firm.

It was that small speech that made Red lose it. He started crying, albeit very softy... But crying nonetheless. He let Blue undo his zipped up jacket and helped shrug it off to reveal the blood soaked t-shirt underneath. Which proceeded to be carefully taken off as well, showing heavily cut, but not broken, ribs.

Blue was somewhat horrified Red was going to just let the cuts naturally heal, then again the hundreds of scars the other had already were... Horrifying in their own ways. Still, Blue steeled his heart and mind and let healing magic flow out through his hands. Very gently he placed them over Red's wounds one by one, apologizing for every wince or flinch the other did as a result of the pressure on them.

When they were healed Blue went about to cleaning the blood up, forcing Red to sit again when he tried to get up to help. "Hell no, Red. You sit still. You are NOT dripping blood onto the kitchen floor!" Blue told him, already being very careful with the blood on his hands as he moved to the sink to wash them.

Despite himself, Red laughed. It was light, filled with joy and a slight pang of old sadness. It was a new sort of laugh that Red still wasn't used to, in all honesty. His smile stayed on his face as Blue dumped and then rinsed out the bowl that he'd used before, rinsing out the rag as well. After which he once again filled the bowl with warm water, walking back over and sitting in the chair opposite his. He smiled at the Fell universe's Sans and got to work cleaning the blood away. "You're definitely showering in the morning, though. I'm not having my boyfriend go around smelling like sweat, tears and day old metallic red liquid."

Again, despite himself Red laughed, giving the other a nod of understanding. His smile slowly turned into a frown as he processed Blue's words. "Boyfriend...?" he asked, voice barely a whisper. Blue nodded. "Well, yeah. We've been seeing each other and living together for nearly a year now. Figured it was time for an upgrade from the 'We're just working out our feelings' status we were in." he answered, wringing the rag out over the bowl and dipping a corner into the now red water before going back to cleaning a vast majority of the blood off of Red's rib-cage.

Red, on the other hand, was silent after that. It was a welcome change, sure, but a bit of an intimidating one regardless of how welcome it was. It left Red thinking of how much his life had changed since meeting Blue. First off, he was much happier. Secondly, he was far more motivated to do things. Thirdly, he was actually kinda, sorta, making up with his brother. ... A little. He doubted there'd ever be complete trust between them, likely no true and complete love either... But Red was alright with tolerance, able to hold a small conversation with no yelling and even a rare handshake sounded nice from what they had been coming from.

Red was jolted out of his thoughts when Blue took his arm, helping to his feet and giving him a hug. It took him a moment, but Red did hug back. "I'm glad you're home and safe." Blue said, tightening his grip slightly. "I know you are. And I'm glad you're happy about that." he replied, letting out a half yawn.

"You get to bed. I'll toss in laundry and that." Blue told him, pulling away and gathering up the dirty rag, shirt and jacket. Red nodded and headed up to his room. Despite living together in the same house, Red preferred having two separate bedrooms for them both. He didn't feel like he was intruding that way.

He walked in, smiled at the bed Blue had changed the sheets of -then felt guilty because he probably only did it out of worry for his well being- and proceeded to change into pajamas. He tossed the last few of his dirty clothing to Blue over the upstairs railing with a grin, heading back into his room and collapsing onto the bed. Near instantaneously he was asleep.

-_-_-_-

_He stared at the limp arm coming out of the remains of a torn down house, screams coming from all around him and from him. He ran, kneeling beside the mound of splintered wood, glass and stone, tearing chunks away with his bare hands as his magic failed him. Or maybe he'd never had any to begin with._

_"No, no, no, no no no nononono. God, please, no... No. **No**." he stopped as a moved stone showed a bit of torn blue fabric slowly absorbing and taking on the color of crimson red. If he had a heart, it would've stopped. As it was, he felt his soul cracking._

_Not him. Anyone but him._  
Not him.  
Not him.  
**NOT. HIM.**

_A scream, composed only of agony and pain, ripped itself free from his soul, from his chest, from his throat and out of his mouth. It drowned out everything else, the sky no longer existed. The ground had disappeared, the other screams from the houses around him were all silenced by the amount of emotion in his._

_The hand twitched and a small, muffled, voice spoke from under the ruined home._

_" **YoUr FaUlT, rEd. YoUr FaUlT. AlWaYs YoUr FaUlT. EvRyThInG iS aLwAyS yOuR fAuLt.** "_

-_-_-_-

Red awoke screaming, tearing off the blankets Blue must've come in and put over him. He sat there after he'd stopped, clutching at the fabric over his chest with one hand. He probably wok- A loud snore from the room next to his, coming from cracked open doors, proved otherwise. Blue had, somehow, not been woken up by his scream. Was he listening to something through headphones Alphys had made again? Probably... Or maybe he hadn't screamed at all, only thinking and feeling as though he had.

Truth be told, Red was no stranger to nightmares. He often had them either once or multiple times a night. They just weren't usually about Blue dying and certainly had never before had Blue tell him everything he'd ever regretted was his fault, even if the nightmare was vague on what, exactly, was considered his fault. Usually it was his brother telling him that.

Shaking slightly due to the sudden change in tone the nightmares took, Red stood and walked to the door of his room. Poking his head out showed that Blue had gone to bed, and not just dozed off waiting for something. Since all the lights were off. He hesitated, then walked out and over to Blue's bedroom door, pushing it open a tad, not without creaking hinges that made him cringe, and slipping inside.

The creaking must've somehow gotten passed whatever it was Blue turned out to be listening to, because he stirred and sat up, pushing the headphones off his skull. "Mm...? Red?? You okay?" Blue asked, rubbing at his eye-sockets tiredly.

Red paused in the middle of the room, debating on lying and going back to bed. But the thought of sleeping alone suddenly felt extremely, well, lonely. "Mm ha-nigh-mere..." he mumbled, half shuffling over to Blue's bed.

Blue tilted his head slightly to the side, rubbing at his eye-sockets again. "... Sorry...? What was that...?" he asked, slightly more awake now and very curious as to why Red was in his room in the middle of the night.

Red said nothing for a long moment, silently cursing himself out in his own head for thinking this was a good idea. "I... I had a nightmare... C-can I... Sleep with you? J-just for tonight!" he added hastily when Blue stared at him unmoving. He was about to teleport back to his own bed -while thinking this was his worst thought of idea ever to be thought of by him- when the other smiled and nodded, moving over to give him room.

Red hesitated for all of a second before climbing in next to him. Blue pulled his covers over both of them and put an arm around Red, drawing shapes on one of his shoulder blades, his headphones and whatever he'd been using to listen to music with completely forgotten about. "You can come sleep with me whenever you like, Red. I don't mind." Blue told him, getting a faint, tired, nod in reply. He didn't really register his soul humming in delight at Blue's words, though the feeling was still there. "I love you." was the last thing UnderFell's Sans heard before he fell asleep for the second time that night, snuggled close to the love of his life.

And for once, he didn't have a single nightmare.


	2. Moments in Our Lives. (CherryBerry short(s) Part II)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if this is a mess, I wrote it some months ago on a day I'd stayed up for over twenty four hours. Oops.
> 
> Also: Due to me not knowing their more widespread fandom nicknames, UnderSwap Alphys is called Alph whereas UnderFell Alphys is just Alphys. UnderSwap Undyne is called Dyne and UnderFell Undyne is just Undyne. (And yes, Ember's an oc. More on him later-)

Waking up to a screech of fear was _NOT_ the way Red wanted to wake up one morning, roughly two months after that one night he'd come home late from a fight. Which ended with him and Blue in one room with a king bed only about a day or so after. Red's old room was turned into a sort of office/library/get-away-room. It was nice. The screech of fear wasn't, of course, as it caused Red to bolt out of bed. He pulled a very over-sized t-shirt -which he stole from his Papyrus when he very literally never saw him wear it or even look at it after buying it, but no one needed to know that- and practically ran out the room and to the railing looking over the living room.

Blue was by one of the corners trying to explain something Red couldn't quite hear to someone he couldn't see. Raising a nonexistent eyebrow, he made his way down the stairs and cleared his throat when he was behind Blue. Causing the other, slightly younger, skeleton to jump and look over his shoulder at him.

"Ah! Red! Did we wake you? I'm sorry if we did. Pap," Red immediately knew he was talking about his own brother, as he tended to call Red's own either Fell or Edge. "dropped the little guy off this morning, probably from one of the other universes. He's not sure and asked if we could... Ya know... Take care... of... 'im..." Blue trailed off as Red stepped closer.

And stopped dead. Sitting in that specific corner of the room, legs pulled to his chest and his arms around them, was a small skeleton with bandages around his arms, hands and a bit of his skull from what he could see. Judging by the frequent sniffing, the babybones had been crying. Probably meaning that he was the one who woke Red up. And truthfully he wasn't sure how to feel about that.

His silence must've made Blue panic to some degree, because the other took his hand lightly and spoke again. "It'll just be until Paps can find a different family willing to take him." Red knew that that was probably true, but still. He wasn't sure how he felt about the whole thing.

"At least help me coax him into letting himself be healed before I call Pap to get Alphys to come pick him up again." Blue said after another moment of no reply from Red. "Pap and Dyne couldn't get him to sit still long enough." he explained, letting go of Red's hand in order to crouch down and reach for the small skeleton.

Red saw the flinch, heard the whine, and knew how the little one felt. Trapped in a corner with no way of escape, fear of physical contact... Red knew it all. It was hard not to know.

When, once upon a time, he'd once been like that towards others. Blue included. Granted, his own problem with it stemmed more from being in a violent universe rather than personal experience with abuse.

Red put a hand on his partner's shoulder, lightly shaking his head when Blue looked up at him. He barely registered his head tilting to the side, half watching him stand and back off. After which Red crouched down and held his hands out where the small one could reach them, but not enough to end up scaring him more.

"It's..." he started, uncertain about how to comfort him. Why did no one prepare him for stuff like this?? "It's a'ight. We just want to help." he told him, getting a fainter whine in reply and a questioning gaze. "You're hurt, right?" he asked, getting a slight hesitant nod in reply. "This one here," he gestured to Blue, not knowing that Blue was smiling at him. "can heal you. You just have to take my hands, okay?"

He waited as the babybones looked between him and Blue while also looking around the living room a bit more. After a good five minutes or so he moved and very lightly put his hands in Red's, shifting and using Red's hands as slight support to get up. Which was when Red finally noticed the bandages on the little one's legs and feet as well, wondering what had happened to him when he stumbled. He froze and started to shake, which made a slight rattling sound, in fear when Red's arms went around him as the older skeleton caught him.

"Easy there. Don't need you falling over, now do we?" he asked with a light tone, trying to make him feel at ease. Not that it worked. The kiddo was much too freaked out -frozen in fear, more like, but eh- to be calmed by a simple light tone of voice. Red gently helped him stand upright again, keeping his arms out around him in order to catch him if he fell or lost his balance for the second time.

He didn't. Though he did use one of Red's arms for support as he tried walking. With more success then the last attempt. Still shaky though. Which was unfortunate, but hey at least it wasn't all bad! Blue gave the kiddo a friendly grin, moving to the couch and sitting down on one side, patting the other lightly as an invite to sit. The little one hesitated, looking up at Red as though asking if Blue could be trusted. Seeing as how Red was making sure he didn't fall, he noticed the look and gave a nod.

The boy looked to Blue again and then back up at Red before back at Blue, taking a few steps towards him before he stopped. He whined, taking a step back and shaking his head. Red stopped him so he couldn't back into the corner again, however, with his hands gently laying flat against the little one's rib-cage. Which got another whine from him and trembles so bad that they very audibly rattled his bones. Red looked at Blue, his face a mix of confusion, concern, and a fair amount of 'I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING AAAAHHHHH-'-ness to it. Blue gave him an apologetic look and turned his attention to the babybones.

"So, little one, what's your name?" the other adult in the room asked him, patiently waiting while the youngest there took a few minutes to respond. Probably out of slight surprise that it was asked, probably partially out of the fact that he was still scared and likely didn't register it right away. Red, on the other hand, had and was confused. "Didn't Stretch tell you?" he asked, getting a shake of the head in reply. "No. He didn't. Said something about Alph finding him and taking him to Alphys and Dyne, wherein he freaked out so bad that they couldn't properly heal him. None of them thought to ask if he had a name, apparently." Red gave a slight nod, frowning as he didn't think the UnderSwap Undyne would do something like not asking for a name. Then again, maybe she'd just been more concerned with his well-being at the time seeing as he doubted that UnderFell's Alphys had been concerned about it.

Red, half lost in thought, jumped slightly when the babybones spoke. "M-m-my-y n-na-ame i-is E-Em-mb-ber..." he said barely above a whisper, taking his hand away from Red's arm and putting his arms around himself in a sort of hug. He was still shaking so terribly that his bones were rattling. It concerned Red somewhat, but probably concerned Blue more. Since he was the more emphatic of the two of them. "M-my na-name's E-Em-mber..." he repeated, slightly louder and with less stuttering.

Blue smiled that one smile Red knew to be the one he used when being reassuring. "Ember's a very nice name." he told him, getting a fidget of the younger's hands and a glow of a pale redish orange-y color along his cheekbones. He was clearly flattered by the compliment. Or maybe just embarrassed. Probably the latter, being that he was a small child. Blue patted the space on the couch beside him again and this time when Ember started walking over he didn't stop until he'd gotten to the bit of furniture.

Red, having followed, picked him up and set him on the cushions beside Blue long before he'd try himself. Ember's brief tense didn't go unnoticed, however, and Blue held his hands out for him to take instead of forcing healing upon him. Red sat on the opposite side, leaning back against the arm of the couch and crossing his own arms. For now he'd watch. Watch, and wait to see what happened.

Ember was still shaking, though he wasn't rattling as loud any longer. He looked back over at Red -who now noticed that the little one's eyelights were a pale green in color- and then back at Blue, reaching out and taking his hands slowly just like he had with Red. The oldest in the room watch as green, though not pale or dark green, magic flowed from Blue and through his hands, healing the boy's bandaged ones even as he undid previously mentioned bandages.

Remodeled fractures and puncture marks marked near every inch of the bones, some of which were only a couple days old... Red noticed the subtle movement of Blue's mandible that showed he was gritting his teeth, or possibly biting his tongue or something of that sort, and felt the urge to reach over to place a comforting hand on his arm. For now he resisted, not wanting to frighten the kid... But he was lying if he said Blue wasn't getting extra affection when they went to bed. Whenever that'd be.

Healing magic couldn't erase scars, nor could it completely heal extremely deep wounds. For Ember, however, it seemed to be enough. The more Blue healed him, the more spots he took probable pain away from, the more relaxed Ember became. At some point Red stopped registering every small movement, a small, likely stupid looking, grin on his face from watching the care Blue put into his current task. He blinked when Ember moved, likely on request, to lay on his back with his head against Blue's femur. The little one's eye-sockets were slowly drooping closed as Red's love removed the bandages from around his skull.

Both him and Red froze briefly at the wound. A large fracture ran almost the entire length around it, jagged and deeper at some points then others. Blue gently pressed his hands over sections of the crack, healing it slowly so as to heal it as much as he possibly could. Ember whimpered softly at first, then stopped as the healing started to work its literal magic. Red watched as Ember's eyes closed entirely, turning his gaze to Blue with a silent question in his own eyelights.

Blue looked up after a moment. His head tilted faintly to the side, keeping their gazes locked for a moment or so before nodding slightly. They both remembered Red's recovering from stress and anxiety. All the pressure from before, on top of newer personal emotional baggage that was coming to light after years of being suppressed, left Red's soul slowly cracking. Had he let himself go completely he'd likely have been dusted within a matter of months, maybe a year if he was lucky. By now it'd healed a fair amount, but even then it still had a few faint fractures in it.

They'd need to check Ember's. Just in case. Mostly so they could treat it before it got too terrible. Or worse, irreversible... Ya know. If it was happening.

So UnderFell's Sans put a hand against Ember's sternum -he twitched and shifted with a soft hum but was otherwise still- and gently _pulled_ at the little one's soul. Usually, or so Red had heard, child monsters would then let their soul be shown if they felt at ease. Not Ember.

His reaction was immediate, his eye-sockets flying open and a high pitched fear filled whine seeming to be coming from the back of his nonexistent throat as his hands shot to Red's radius, ulna and carpals, clawing at them with his own phalanges. Since he did it with no true intent of actual harm, he didn't do anything extremely harmful aside from the bone against bone scraping sound that pierced all of their... Whatever magic made it so they could hear sound and a few minor scratches. However, he'd moved so suddenly Blue had to take his hands away or risk putting him in even more pain from putting pressure on his not-yet-mostly-completely-healed skull fracturing.

Red stopped gently tugging at the boy's soul, but left his hand where it was, if only out of shock and the fact that he was currently, most likely anyway, the only thing keeping him from running off into the corner again by keeping him down. Still, it made a dull aching hum go through Red's own soul seeing the small one crying and clawing at his arm and wrist. It vaguely worried him that he wasn't trying to take Red's own fingers off of him, or doing anything aside from the clawing, but really that paled to what he was saying.

Now, all skeletons could understand font. Most used a common font for the ease of speaking to others, as Ember had done earlier. Except now he was speaking in a font Red hadn't seen in what felt like eons...

He was speaking in WingDings.

Of course, he and Blue knew what he was saying. Blue's eye-sockets widening as his eyelights switched from white to a, faintly pale, blue. If either of them weren't bone white already, they would be now. For Ember was scream-crying about not wanting more tests to be done on his soul, not wanting it to be even _visible_ again, pleading for them not to do anything to it all while his eyelights had turned from pale green to a reddish orange color and tears streamed from his sockets.

Blue, Red noted, looked horrified. Staring down at Ember as he seemingly unknowingly let his healing magic dissipate, Red definitely knew the look Blue held. The one of wanting to help someone, to comfort them, but not knowing exactly how he could or should do so. Unfortunately, he was already at a loss even with Blue. And he'd known him for a hella a long time! Longer then he'd ever know most monsters anyway.

The three of them stayed like that for... Red wasn't sure how long. All he knew is that when Ember finally ran out of most of his energy, arms dropping to his sides, he just kept crying softly and carefully Red removed his hand. Blue taking hold of his shoulders as he moved like he was trying to bolt. "Easy, easy Ember." the other adult in the room said, voice gentle and soft. "It's okay. We're not going to hurt you. That's not our intention. Alright?" he asked, Ember faintly shaking his head. Red frowned as he saw the little one try to squirm out of Blue's firm but caring grip. "Ember." Blue tried, voice slightly firm though he got no answer and therefore tried again. "Ember, Ember look at me." Red saw the hesitation and then saw Ember's eyes blink several times as he tried getting the world back into focus through his tears, his line of sight looking up at Blue.

Blue let the healing magic flow again, getting back to his work on healing that skull fracture. "Good, thank you. Now listen, alright?" a faint nod. "We _ARE. **NOT**_. going to hurt you intentionally. If it does happen it's going to be completely accidental. Do you understand?" he asked, getting another faint nod in response. "We do need to see your soul, though." at Ember's tensing, it was Red who cut in and continued. "Just to _see_ it, a'ight? Nothing more. Just lookin'. There's something that can happen to it and if left untreated it could be very bad. That's the only reason we want to even briefly take it from you, understand?" Red asked, Ember whined in reply and fresh tears slipped down his cheekbones. He again shook his head.

"Ember, Ember please. I promise," and that was a feat, considering Red didn't make them lightly. If ever. "nothing is going to happen to it unless one of us has to heal it due to damage, okay?" he asked, keeping his gaze locked with the young boy's as the younger searched his face and eyes for probable trustworthiness and/or sincerity. Finally, minutes later, he nodded in confirmation. "O-o-ok-oka-a-ay-y..." he sputtered out, inhaling sharply when Red once again put a hand to his sternum. Considering he probably didn't know how to safely draw out his soul on his own -sure it was an instinct, really, but it could still be harmful if not properly taught how to do it-, this was less risky. That, however, made it no easier to do it as Ember started trembling again, letting out barely choaked back sobs as Red gently tugged at his soul.

Ember let out a loud whine, squirming in place after a moment. Red had to stop as he choaked something out about it hurting. "You can't resist much, Ember." Blue said, faintly moving his hands to go over Red's briefly as though to help. "That's why it hurts. Just let him, he's careful." he told the babybones. He got a whimper in reply, along with Ember shifting slightly. Red knew he probably just wanted to curl up somewhere in a ball. Blue still had to heal him and that, though.... So Red did the next best thing his instincts told him to do. And that was honestly a surprise to himself, as well, since he normally didn't register them at all. Anyway, he followed them.

Meaning he stopped what he was doing and picked the small one up, moving so that he took his previous spot next to Blue and held him in his lap, gently hugging him and tucking the younger's head under his own chin. His lover seemed surprised, but quickly grinned at him in joy and a small bit of pride, while Red felt the little one's breath hitch in his chest briefly... And then the floodgates let loose and he cried. He cried and cried and cried and cried, bones rattling from the trembles and the shoulder-jolting sobs, gripping fistfulls of Red's shirt between his fists. The entire time he let his emotions out Red held him, faintly rocking back and forth as he followed his instincts blindly, while Blue held a hand to one of the deeper fractured areas on the small one's skull to heal it. Softly resting his head against Red's shoulder.

When Ember had finally calmed again, Red found that it was only because he had fallen asleep. His shirt now wet in a semi-large area from tears and, a fair bit more gross, coughed up saliva. Somehow Red didn't care. All that mattered was that Ember was calmed and sleeping peacefully. Red shifted slightly, once again gently pressing one hand to the young one's sternum so as to gently pull at his soul. Ember made a soft noise of discomfort, shifted, but thankfully stayed asleep.

And this time Red and Blue got to, finally, see his soul. As expected, his soul was smaller compared to an adult's. Red and Blue did not, however, expect to see that it was... Different. Instead of being purely white like most monster souls, reddish orange magic swirled _inside_ it like smoke. Red pointed out faint cracking around the edges and even more faint cracking in the center, both adults wondering what could've caused that weird smoke.

Red carefully passed the babybones' soul to Blue, who gently took it in his other hand, lighting that hand up in green healing magic and the two watched Ember as he shifted, curling up against Red and letting out a soft mumble. Neither of them knew what he'd said, but judging by the peaceful expression taking over his face, instead of the slightly concerned/upset one he'd had before, Blue's healing was working at least in calming him further in sleep. "I'll call Pap to get Alph and probably Dyne to come pick him up in the morning." Blue said softly as he stopped the healing. Soul fracturing was never easy to 'fix', it took far more time than physical wounds. So long as the healing was kept up at least once a week, in Red's personal experience with it anyway, it'd work out in the end.

Red hummed softly. "No. Don't call them." he whispered in reply as he gently took the soul back and returned it to Ember, this time with no shifts or sounds from the small skeleton still in his arms. "We're keeping him." he said, voice soft enough to not wake the boy but firm enough that Blue knew there'd be no arguing with him on this. Not this time anyway. Not that he really wanted to suggest they not care for the boy.

They both knew it'd be a long time before Ember felt safe again, judging by the one experience, and they'd likely have to get some sort of professional help, learn certain things to avoid around him until later... Overall just have a long road ahead of them.

But Red found himself honestly not giving two flying fucks about any of that for the moment, found himself already sort of 'claiming' the kiddo, so to speak, and honestly? He wanted to help him. Which was odd. Considering he'd never thought of the idea of having children, the thought of it gave him a bit of anxiety if he were completely honest... And then this kid, this tiny, precious, little flame, comes along and completely steals his nonexistent heart. Maybe his issue was that he feared he'd have a hard time connecting to any babybones...es...? of his own, with his own dark past.

Red, caught up in thoughts on why Ember is different from any previous thoughts of children he's had, didn't realize he had ended up laying on the couch with Ember curled up on his chest -thankfully still asleep- and Blue half curled up at the other end, using his arms and part of the arm of the furniture as a pillow having had stopped using his healing magic on Ember's skull at some point. He'd get to the rest of the injuries in the morning after breakfast, most likely. ' _Things will be better for the little one._ ' Red thought to himself, subconsciously rubbing Ember's spine gently with one hand while his other arm kept him from falling off his own chest. ' _Better then they were for me, at least. I owe the world that much, not leaving yet another tortured, slowly breaking, soul in the vast multiverse._ ' Red, as the night wore on, found himself dozing instead of completely falling asleep.

He blamed it mostly on that _one. fucking. spring._ in the couch that was painfully digging into his pelvis and somehow didn't dare blame it on Ember nor on Blue. Well, never on Blue. He'd never do that. Unless it was literally his fault. And even then he'd forgive him. Probably. Most likely. Unless it was some horrid crime he couldn't forgive him for... Which was as unlikely as Blue failing to believe in someone. In other-words: Basically never going to happen with the version of Blue Red knew. Red smiled to himself, now subconsciously making loops and circles over and over and over again on one of Ember's shoulder blades, as he thought of his partner. Neither had spoken of marriage to the other before, and somehow Red now found himself wanting to talk about it. About the future, _their_ future, with or without biological children ever coming into play.

He was jostled awake by Blue faintly stretching out -therefore hitting his legs with the slightly younger's own-, opening his eye-sockets only when he heard Ember let out a soft mumble and shift as if to sit up. Red smiled faintly, though didn't feel all that rested, and put his arms more firmly around him. He let out a yawn before he sat up, Ember gently cradled against his chest as the boy stirred slowly. Blue perked up lightly and rubbed sleep from his eye-sockets, standing and stretching. He put a hand on Ember's head lightly, giving Red a quick kiss, then left with a quiet word to Red about breakfast.

Red smiled as he watched the other, oh how he loved him. Looking down as the babybones in his arms shifted and let out a soft yawn, Red noted that there was a dime sized chunk missing from the little one's sort of magic-made tongue, and watched as he reached up and rubbed at his own eye-sockets. It then occurred to Red that they'd never given their names. "You up?" he asked softly, not meaning to cause the boy to jump but doing so anyway. Ember looked up at him with tired looking eyelights, giving a light nod and letting out another yawn. "I'm known as Red." he said. "Red." Ember repeated, not asking a question but merely repeating it.

He nodded at him, standing with the little one still in his arms as he headed for the dining room. "Yup. And the other one here is named Blue." he told him, faintly noting that Ember seemed to be clinging to him and not wanting to look around much at all. For now he brushed it off as 'just waking up' but would remember it for later. "Blue." he repeated back, shifting slightly and sniffing. "Okay.... Nice to meet you..." he murmured softly. "You too, little one. You too." Red replied. Yup. Definitely keeping him.


	3. Adventures with AfterDeath (Part I)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this before the previous two things, but whatever. Bare with me if it's not all that great at the end, I might change it later, though I have no idea if I actually will or not. There is plans for a sequel of sorts to this, I just haven't written it up entirely yet.  
> And yes, there are references.  
> I can't change the text color-
> 
> If you can spot the number reference in the number for Snowdrake, you get a cookie! (Hint: It's related to Soul Eater)

_Rin Okumura  
Death the Kid  
Duke Crocker  
Izuru Kamukura  
Weiss Schnee  
Charlie Eppes  
Gaelan ???  
Red ???  
Ciel Phantomhive  
Violet Evergarden  
~~Cartaphilus ???~~  
Piper Halliwell  
Len Kagamine  
Snowdrake 7,569,333,905,242,564,023,009,001,911,004,424,256,403,090,002,001,999,008,450,007,000  
..._

  
The list went on. Ever changing, always the length of a single page of parchment paper. Sometimes names were crossed out when the soul should've been reaped, but hadn't due to some other unforeseen action or event arising that stopped him from finding them on time. If he found their souls, they'd be reaped. But for the most part that never happened. Him not reaping a soul only happened a few times, though, so he wasn't worried about it. Other times the last name of the person was unknown, which made finding them a little harder. But oh well. There was a reason he wasn't the only reaper, after all.

There was this one name that he always had at the very end of his list. It was faded with age and now barely readable, though it was from the start anyway with how the text of the name looked as though someone kept picking up the pen/pencil at times while writing a letter. But regardless he knew it by heart from the time he'd spent stared at it, never able to find the soul in question.

And the odd thing is that none of the other reapers of souls who'd suffered violent deaths had the name. Usually the list was shared between them all, which is why it changed constantly. Since souls were nearly always being reaped somewhere, in one universe or another.

But not this one.

_Geno_

He'd never been able to find this 'Geno' anywhere he went. No matter who he asked, how hard he tried, how long he searched in every small corner of a universe, he'd never found the soul. Not once. It was as though the name had been printed on, but the parchment had forgotten to remove it when the soul was reaped by someone else. It was so strange and over time he'd forgotten about it. Sometimes he'd look at the name in confusion when he'd momentarily forget that it'd been there for years.

...

Or perhaps millennia?

He honestly had no idea. Oh the joys of being an immortal god of death. He had no idea how long it'd been for pretty much anything. It certainly didn't help that most universes experienced 'resets' and he'd often have to repeat the reaping of the souls there. It was such a pain...

Ah well. It was his job. If he slacked off on it, he'd likely be stripped of any reputation he had. That, and worlds would be filled with vengeful spirits. Especially in those universes that experienced near total destruction at the hands of one or multiple humans.

But it was still such a pain in his side.

If he had the option, he'd curl up in a small corner of an unknown universe somewhere and sleep for generations upon generations. Heh. But he couldn't afford to do that. So he pushed on and on, growing ever more tired as time wore on. Ever going forward but never quite going back. Not like he wished it would, anyway. If that happened things would go back to the simple times before universes started experiencing resets, where names wouldn't disappear and then reappear moments later as that world reset.

But that was impossible, unfortunately.

And so he merely pressed on.

And if he remembered, he'd look for the soul of this Geno whenever he had free time. In hopes of finding it and finally ridding his paper of Needing to be Reaped Souls of it. If only for his own sanity at it escaping him this long. It was annoying. Though he was curious as to what sort of soul it was. Since it was most likely a human soul, possibly stuck in some sort of limbo like brain-dead people on life support.

Technically their souls had been reaped at that point... But they were stuck in this sort of grey area, where technically they were alive just... Not in the sense most people would think, due to no brain function. The souls could go back, of course. But most opted not to.

Understandable in his opinion. If he had the option of dying (He could, mind you. Ironically. But most other reapers wouldn't dare get rid of one of their own.) and being in peace he'd certainly take it. Who wouldn't? Probably someone out there, he just likely wouldn't ever completely understand why they thought that way.

And...  
He...  
Pressed...  
On...  
Years upon years went by...  
Sometimes he'd fake getting ill to just go sit somewhere and watch the sun set, the stars go by, and then the sun rise. But he never did totally slack on his job. Not any more then it took him to get over being ill, anyway. Sometimes only a day or two. Once he went a week. But not again after that one time. It wasn't worth the complaining from other reapers about being a bit over worked due to having to also do extra reaping thanks to him being out.

During one of his faked illness trips he visited one of the universes that most reapers had deemed stuck in a loop. For this one never stopped resetting, always doing so at some point. He didn't know why he decided to go to it, but it was fairly peaceful. Mostly. Dust was everywhere thanks to him having to reaps dozens upon dozens of souls. It was one of _those_ universes. Only, this one hadn't stopped. Usually they all did at some point. Even if it was literal eons afterward.

And it was here that he experienced one of those 'resets' firsthand. And it _**TERRIFIED**_ him. It was like someone had thrown an anchor into his soul and violently yanked it into a space that wasn't where he'd just been, but wasn't where he was at the start either. It left him clutching at his chest while trying to steady rising panic that he wasn't just betrayed and reaped by another reaper.

And it was here, in a space void of anything but inking blackness, that he met that faded name on his paper.

After recovering from feeling as though his soul had been jerked out of his body, the reaper had wandered the blank dark space in curiosity. He could feel hundreds, thousands, possibly millions or more of fragments of souls in the space. It was a bit unsettling, especially considering that the souls weren't reaped and dead but nor were they alive and... Humming was always the best word for him to use to describe what alive souls felt like. At least, to him, personally. It was like they were in a sort of limbo not caused by a reaper.

Of the only three that weren't like that, one was foggy, like it wasn't there but it was, one was clearly there and just couldn't leave and the last felt... Half alive. Like they were hanging on by a thread of life. Or by the DETERMINATION(DT) to do something. To finish something. It felt like... A human soul that refused to be reaped. Well. He'd do his job. Finish it off.

The familiar feeling of his scythe's handle in his hands was soothing in the sea of inky darkness. A rope to guide him home of sorts. He gripped it in the gentle tight-enough-to-be-controlled-but-loose-enough-to-be-able-to-swing-it-in-combat-if-needed way he always did as he came upon a... Somewhat strange scene.

A glitched out looking white and red Sans, at least the reaper thought he was, a semi-glitched looking Frisk, and a normal looking Sans. Though as he walked closer he witnessed the last of which disappear and felt a faint tug at his soul like before. This time, however, it didn't drag him with it. He blinked and then stepped into view. His black cloak billowing around his feet in an invisible wind. For the moment he left his sockets dark. He just wanted to get this over with and be on his way.

He probably terrified the Frisk, with the way they let out a squeak and ran behind the white and red Sans. Oh well. He'd deal with them eventually, he was sure. He stopped about two feet from the pair, a bit curious as to why the Sans seemed to be protecting the Frisk. Since by the looks of the red slash mark across his chest, he'd gone through one of those runs that ended in a repeated loop of dust and death for years.

The reaper watched as the other Sans' eye lit up in a duel toned red and blue, shifting to better guard the kid. Not that he cared. It wasn't the kid he was after, after all. The kid wasn't anywhere close to death. The other Sans, however? Now _his_ soul was certainly ready to be reaped. But it was what the kid called him that made the reaper's cyan blue left eye light up and cast, what he thought would be, an eerie glow across his face.

"Geno, huh? Man, have you been a total thorn in my side to find." he said in a voice that would forever sound darker then most Sanses' voices, an unsettling grin splitting his face. The name had haunted him for longer then he cared to remember. And here was the owner. Right in front of him! Practically delivered on a platter made of the finest silver! It was perfect!

...

And yet...

Some small pinprick of a sound buried in the depths of his soul, a sound only he'd hear, rang. Begging him not to go through with what was already happening. But it was too late for that. The world around them flickered faintly black and white and the other skeleton had enough sense to send the kid flying out of the way of the battle box as it appeared around them.

The reaper didn't know why he protected them, considering it looked as though he'd been killed by them at some point, but oh well. He didn't care right now. He tightened his grip on his scythe oh so slightly and then took a swing. And missed. Typical of a Sans to be so adapt at dodging, when most didn't have very many Hit Points. Oh well. It'd make things interesting at the least. Never mind the duel toned blue and red eye light and the clearly high DT levels.

He took a step back as his first strike ended, cloak billowing around him in an invisible wind and he still had the unsettling grin on his face, and the battle started. And with it his grin faded into a look of concentration.

Slowly at first, each getting a feel for the other's attacks, and then so fast that the Frisk watching on the sidelines couldn't believe their eyes. The white bones flying at each other in every which way, at varying lengths and thicknesses, combined with the reaper's close-range scythe swipes and Geno's blasters firing at every chance they got... It scared them. Who knew any Sans had this much power? Or did all of them?

To the reaper, his soul practically sang with joy as the fight drew on, becoming more like a dance then an actual fight. He started using more of his own bone-based attacks as time went on, wanting to see the other jump and dodge and have to quickly teleport out of more tricky spaces. It was a joy. And then he got caught off guard when the other suddenly just stopped, mid attack. He hadn't done much damage, maybe a few scratches but the reaper himself had those as well. So why'd he stop? Had he done more then he thought and he was about to dust?

With that thought, he relaxed a fair bit.

A mistake.

The red and white Sans suddenly teleported and was on top of him, his scythe disappearing in the confusion, a blaster hanging above both of them about ready to fire, leaving only a fraction of a second for the owner of it to get out of the way.

And the reaper laughed. Sure, he could use his own energy to make the bones that made up his body deadly to the touch. But that'd be cheating. And besides, that took up a lot of energy. And he was kinda out of that now that he took notice of what his magic and energy levels were. But that just made him laugh more. The laugh sounding oddly joyous. Coming from a reaper of souls.

It must've made the other Sans, Geno, concerned though. Since he teleported away but just before he could fire his blaster, the reaper was up, scythe again in hand, teleporting himself above the skull and slashing downwards, cutting through the blaster's skull, watching the white particles of wasted magic rain down around him as he fell towards the ground. Only to land lightly on his feet, resting the handle of his scythe against his left shoulder with the actual sharp weapon bit somewhere above his head. He dropped the magic keeping the battlebox in place, the world flickering before he and Geno returned to color for good.

"Welp. That was fun. I'm Sans. Sans the Reaper. But with so many Sanses, I go by Reaper." he introduced himself, a slight smile playing at his mouth. He let his eye light fade back to the double white, instead of just the one cyan. He'd enjoy this conversation, especially judging by the look on Geno's face. Which was a mix of confusion, apprehension, and a faint flicker of what Reaper thought looked like admiration.

He got names and an explanation as to what the void-space was. He found it all quite interesting, honestly, and couldn't help but watch the other skeleton as he spoke, finding it quite cute that he'd make a sort of half waving half flailing motion with his hands when he was gathering his thoughts or trying to find a word that fit better. Other Sans, and even other versions of people who could multi-/universe jump, found companionship in one another often.

At first it was considered strange, there was even an attempt to put those who did in their own void-space universe all together. When it grew to be far more then anyone expected, they'd been returned. Heck, he knew of other versions, older and younger, of himself that'd already fallen in love with another. One of them found a human companion, of all things. One found partnership in a Reaper!Undyne. And the most known had fallen for a SwapReaper!Sans. It was quite the odd thing to see. But it'd been accepted, even if some didn't completely agree that it was okay. Which is probably why Reaper didn't dismiss the possibility that he could be falling for the other, even if they hadn't known one another long.

When the void-space flickered, probably hours later, Reaper stood, not having noticed he'd sat down at one point, and stretched. He said his good-byes and left to return to work. Or go take a nap. One of the two. .... Probably the latter. He felt... ... Very abnormally empty after he left. Like he'd left something behind in the black void-space that he desperately needed. He waved it off as just being in it for so long and went about his business.

However,  
The reaper did return. Eventually.  
And he went back again after that.  
And again.  
And again.  
_And again_.  
He'd started visiting at least once daily, just to say hello and ask how things were going before leaving. He'd done better in reaping souls, did his job more often, and overall got just a bit happier. When asked he'd shrug and say that he just felt happy.

It was probably his ten thousandth visit after their first meeting that he realized what had happened.  
He'd fallen in love with Geno.  
He'd fallen head over heels in love with a soul that... That... That he had to.... To _reap_.  
For awhile he stopped visiting, stopped working, stopped talking with pretty much everyone. He'd often find himself at the barrier of many AUs sitting on the cliff-side watching the sunset. He was unaware that during his time of not visiting, AfterTale's timeloop had finally stopped and that Geno was no longer stuck in the void-space.

Reaper sighed and stood, taking a deep breath and teleporting to what he thought would be the familiar void. Instead he landed right where he had been, the sun just a little higher in the sky. Odd. He was aiming for that void where Geno was. Not here. He was used to timelines and AUs being set on different timezones, of course. So that certainly wasn't the odd thing.

"Reaper?"  
Mentioned skeleton spun around, scythe appearing in hand and immediately going to settle around the other's neck, poised for him to cut towards the right of him and cut off their head. He didn't take surprises well. And he felt as though his soul would break and dust him from the look of total fear and horror on Geno's face, dried tears on his cheekbones. ... Well fudge.

Reaper let his scythe disappear and he stepped back, drawing his cloak around himself out of anxiety as he took in Geno's appearance. He still had the glitch around the one melted eye, so that was the same. As was his mostly all white color palette. But the wound across his chest was gone as was the DT that'd been faintly spilling from his mouth. It was nice seeing him without that.

"Geno..." he said at last, dipping his head faintly in greeting and not meeting the other's gaze.  
"R-Reaper..." the other sniffed and when his eyes snapped up to meet his, he was quite alarmed to see fresh tears slip down his cheekbones.  
"Wh-Wha- OOF-" Reaper staggered back a step or so as Geno barreled into him, hugging him tightly and properly crying. Having no idea what to really do, he put his cloak around him and hugged him back, lightly rubbing his back trying to help him stop while his mind raced at what the heck was going on.  
"D-don't g-go away f-for s-so long..." he finally mumbled against the fabric of the sort of tunic Reaper was wearing. "I missed you... F-felt l-like I was m-missing p-part of my already s-small piece of a-a soul...."  
"...Well... No promises... But I'll definitely try not to, alright?" Reaper responded in question after a moment, getting a nod in reply. Geno, however, didn't seem to want to let go. And, honestly, Reaper didn't mind. He could stay there, in the moment of a sort-of kind-of but not really confession, for eternity.


End file.
